UNIVERSITY BUDGET COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF OCTOBER 6, 2011 MEETING
I.
Time, Location and Attendance:
4:00PM, Brookside Room at Administrative Center
UBC members present: Brenda Bethman, Betty Drees, Lawrence Dreyfus,
Gary Ebersole, Laura Gayle Green, Provost Gail Hackett (Chair), Tony
Luppino, Michael Plamann, Lanny Solomon, Kevin Truman and Mel Tyler.
Others present: Chancellor Leo Morton, Larry Bunce, Carol Hintz, Sharon
Lindenbaum, John Morrissey, and Karen Wilkerson.
II.
Preliminary Administrative Matters:
The minutes of the August 23, 2011 meeting of the Committee were
approved in the form last circulated prior to the meeting.
III.
Report on State/System Developments
Chancellor Morton and Provost Hackett reported on State/System
developments relevant to budgeting for FY 2012. The report included the
following information:
o Each System campus has been asked to submit preliminary proposals
regarding tuition and fees by October 26. This is part of a timetable
designed to result in the Board of Curators’ approval of the FY 2012
tuition and fees at its February 2012 meeting.
o In view of the significant cuts in the State Appropriation for higher
education in recent years, consideration is being given to legislative
revisiting of the tuition cap rules that resulted from Senate Bill 389.
o Discussions of possible elements of a performance-based approach to
allocating increases in the State Appropriation are continuing.
IV.
Report on Request Re: General Overhead Assessment Issues
Karen Wilkerson and John Morrissey reported that the request has gone out
to the academic deans to identify any questions/issues they have with the
computation of their unit’s share of the General Overhead Assessment under
the Budget Model. The request was accompanied by an offer by the Budget
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Office to meet with each dean and the unit’s fiscal officer to review the
relevant data and computations for the unit.
V.
Report on Administrative and Support Services Committee
Tony Luppino, Co-Chair (along with Paris Saunders) of the Administrative
and Support Services Committee, a joint subcommittee of the UBC and the
2020 Task Force, explained that, after the May recommendation that an
inventory of unfilled positions (both budgeted and contemplated but
unbudgeted) be assembled, that committee had postponed its next meeting
pending: (1) allowing time for Vice Chancellor Lindenbaum to develop a
comprehensive plan for analysis of UMKC salary and benefits budgeting;
and (2) finding an appropriate time for a meeting at which Chancellor
Morton and/or Provost Hackett could meet with that committee to provide
further direction on its charge and objectives. He reported that a very good
plan had been developed by Vice Chancellor Lindenbaum for such payroll
analysis, and that she has agreed to describe that plan at a to-be-scheduled
next meeting of the Administrative and Support Services Committee.
Meanwhile, it has been agreed that the request for an unfilled positions
inventory from deans and administrative and support unit leaders can go
forth from that committee’s leadership, with instructions designed to avoid
unnecessary duplication of information already supplied in other available
reports.
VI.
Discussion of Scheduling Agenda Items for Upcoming UBC Meetings
The Committee then identified the following items to be included in the
agenda of upcoming meetings:
o Reports from the Housing and Parking auxiliaries on their recent and
projected revenues, expenses, and reserves, to help the UBC consider
in context its recommendations to the Chancellor on such issues as:
(1) whether to reinstate the off-the-top (of the State Appropriation)
special allocation to fund the old Twin Oaks debt service or leave it
as an expense of Housing; and (2) whether the existing and projected
reserves for Parking, taking into account the recently announced fee
increase, are appropriate in view of reasonably contemplated parking
needs.
o Report from Intercollegiate Athletics on its revenues, expenses and
deficit fund balance, and on the costs and benefits of UMKC
Intercollegiate Athletics generally, and with specific reference to
costs of being in NCAA Division I as opposed to other possible
Divisions, again to facilitate UBC recommendations in its role as an
advisory group to the Chancellor.
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o Developing a good understanding of the projected increases in
operating costs from major new construction, and the allocation of
such operating cost increases to various affected units, with a view
toward making sure such allocations are appropriate and transparent.
o Analyzing possibilities for performance-based measures/metrics that
might be used by the State of Missouri in apportioning increases in
State funding across its public institutions of higher education, and
developing related recommendations.
o Comprehensive review of tuition setting and management of
unfunded scholarships/waivers.
o Obtaining in due course a report from the consultants engaged to
study and make recommendations on UMKC’s research operations.
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